Tuesday, Nov 8th

Election day in the USA, hardly anyone here talking about it.  One of our friends said it was the first time in 40 years she had not voted.  It will be interesting regardless of who wins and much like our elections there will be lots of post game analysis.
  Had to get up early as Alberto was coming to was the park model.  It sure was dusty and dirty this year.  Often in the summer they get a couple of major dust storms, or haboob.  Now how did a dust storm ever get a name like that anyway?  Anyway the result is a lot of plant material and that fine dust from the desert.  He was a couple of hours with his pressure wash and then cleaned up the windows and had them sparkling when he left.  It was money well spent and I don't have a pressure washer and the water here is so hard it leaves spots on anything, so you have to have some kind of rinse agent to counter that.
  After we pulled out all the patio furniture and got things set up.  I took down the brace off the back fence, which stood up very well this year.  Again another effect of the haboob winds, last year it was blown down and had to be rebuilt.  Just as we were finishing, Lynette stopped by and Marg made us all a nice lunch.  Lynette is having her kitchen counters & cabinets redone, so is in the midst of a mess, so I think glad for the offer of lunch.
  We went out for a bit as I needed to get a filter for the a/c system.  Again the haboob.  Also wanted a new shower head, the water is very hard here and lots of scale on water fixtures.  I saw one that shows you the water temp on a display.  Now a novel idea, but who cares what temp it is, I think most people like me, just put their hand in the water to see if it's ok.  I am sure there are people who would buy it, but then how would they show it off?
  Stopped at the ranch market for vegetables and such.  Got a couple of bags of oranges & they are so fresh and juicy here @ $3 per bag.  Got a watermelon for 59 cents, a head of lettuce for 49 cents, a bag of carrots for $1.  The produce is so fresh here, it's a real treat compared to what we usually see at home in the grocery aisle at this time of year.  Also stopped and bought water, for the cooler and ice maker as it is still quite warm here.  One of the downsides is we buy most of our drinking water, but do it in the 5 gal bottles.  I think Marg said she saw 33 on the truck temp display when she went for groceries. 

That was another good experience as lots of the meat was buy one get a second one free.  This pack of T Bone was $13 and the steaks are thick and large.  Some nice steaks, can hardly wait to bbq.  She bought groceries at Fry's so that will give us loyalty points and at least a 10 cent a gallon discount off the $2.09 gas prices.
  After getting back I went down and helped Larry get the rear wheel on his bike.  He had a flat from it sitting and was having difficulty putting it back together.  Both of my tires are flat, but I am hoping they just need to be inflated and that I never picked up a goat head. Since putting liners in my tires I had not been having problems with flats, fingers crossed.
  Spent a frustrating half hour on the phone dealing with one of our Trac phones.  They are pay as you go, so one had run out of days and needs a new SIM card.  Several times I wanted to say I thought I pressed "1" for English.  The girl's command of the language was terrible.  It was as if she learned it from a text book without actually hearing any pronunciation.  It was downright comical when she tried to say Apache Junction.  When giving her our lot number she asked it that is spelled:  lote.  But the service is low cost.
  A quick stop at happy hour and then supper at Ihop tonight.  They have a promo on in support of children of wounded and not returning veterans, so we made a donation in the name of the Gourlay Family.  It's one of those things where they post donor names on their wall.
  Funny, no one here is wearing any poppies.  I asked about it, telling them I was wearing one in GP before leaving home, so it seems strange this close to Remembrance Day [not what it's called here].  Jim said they used to do like us, but now just wear them on the Nov 11th.  There are lots of parades on the day, in fact the one here in AJ marks the start of a 2 day celebration.
  Well that is all for today, from down south here in the Valley of the Sun.